


First Day of School

by amanda_jolene



Series: The Nelsons [10]
Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: Gen, The Nelsons AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-21
Updated: 2014-07-21
Packaged: 2018-02-09 20:44:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1997187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amanda_jolene/pseuds/amanda_jolene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the first day of school for the oldest Nelson boy and Finn is a wreck.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Day of School

Their oldest son has his first day of school tomorrow.

Finn always thought when the day came for the boy to start school, Rae would be a nervous wreck and Finn would be the one to comfort her when she couldn’t sleep the night before. 

“You’re wearing the carpet down,” she tells him with a laugh, regarding him over the top of her book. 

He’s been nervously packing since he put Jere to bed a half hour ago. They had talked about his big day, his new teacher and how he didn’t have to be afraid of all the changes. Jere had looked at Finn and gave him a big smile, “I’m not afraid. I’m excited!” Then he asked Finn to read him a bedtime story about Little Owl’s first day of school (Little Owl was a character Finn had created to keep Jere from crying all those nights when Rae had been busy with Seb. He never knew how creative he was until he had children). 

“I know he said he was excited,” Finn tells Rae. “But he was excited for the dentist the first time until we got there.” 

“But this isn’t the dentist, Finn. He’ll enjoy himself. Get to be around kids his age. Color all day and take naps. Just like he’s at home but without us.” 

It was the without us part that bother Finn because his little boy was, well, precious. At least to them. Jere was quiet, sweet and observant like his father and Finn didn’t want anything to change the little boy who brought his mum worms and flowers from the garden and held his little brother and followed Finn like a shadow. Finn watched the news, knew the world was falling apart, and being a teacher had afforded him an up close view of the sort of shit that went on in schools. He wasn’t sure he was ready to let his little boy go into all of that just yet.

“Come here,” Rae pats the bed in front of her. He trudges over and when he plops down, she sets her books aside and starts rubbing his shoulders. “Ok, now tell me what’s really going on.” 

“You’re not going to psychoanalyze me, are you?” 

She laughs a little at his expense (since she got her degree, he was always asking her if she was psychoanalyzing him) and kisses the nape of his neck. “Not if you don’t want me to.” 

“I don’t.” He sighs and leans back into the magic of her massaging hands, groaning a little when she starts working out the kink between his shoulder blades. “I’ve the worst knot right there all week. I-“

She puts enough pressure on his back to make him yelp and try to squirm away but then she’s soothing him again with a kneading motion. “Spill the beans, Finley.” 

“It’s that… he’s just a little boy, you know? And I don’t want him to… I don’t want…” 

“You don’t want him to grow up?”

Well, no. Yes. Maybe. Finn wasn’t stupid, he knew his children couldn’t stay babies forever. He wanted to grow up and be healthy and productive. Wanted them to have lives and wives (or husbands, whatever they preferred) and children if they wanted them. He wanted them to be happy and righteous and good. But he wasn’t sure he was prepared for the letting go aspect of it all. 

“It’s just that Seb is so smart already and Jere is going to school. Rae, we just had them both. How are they growing so fast?” 

She wraps her arms around his middle and leans into his back, kissing his ear and thanking whatever deity was out there that had provided her with a man that loved so unabashedly. “They’re not Peter Pan, Finn. They have to grow.” 

“I know that. Doesn’t mean I have to like it, though.”

He’s still fretting but it starts to lessen when she unties the front of his sleep pants and slips a hand in, her mouth pecking the side of his neck. “Well, maybe we should have another child every time one goes to school?” 

The thought is appealing because Finn will never get over how right it feels to rock babies to sleep against his chest. “Maybe.” 

(And for a while, he doesn’t worry about Jere’s big day because he’s too caught up in his wife.)

Jere wakes him up in the morning. He stands on Finn’s side of the bed and taps him on the face until Finn’s eyes open blearily. “Whasit?”

“I’m ready for school.” Jere announces proudly. “I even dressed myself.”

Finn flips on the lamp and takes in his oldest son who is wearing a pair of blue cotton shorts, an orange t-shirt with a grey sweater vest. “Your socks don’t match.”

Jere looks down. “Oh. It’s ok.” 

“And you have a uniform, remember?” 

“Oh. Yeah.” 

He squints at the clock. “And it’s 4 in the morning. School doesn’t start for a bit, darling.” 

“I noticed the sun wasn’t up but I thought he was just sleepin’ in.”

It’s stuff like that that makes Finn’s heart clench because one day his little boy would understand things like time and the earth’s rotation but right now he’s too little and he doesn’t want him to do anything but wear mismatched socks and eat peanut butter sandwiches. “Come on. You can sleep with us until it’s time to get up.” 

He hauls the little boy up on the bed and takes off his shoes (which were also mismatched) and snuggles him under the blanket. Neither can fall back asleep though, ate up with nerves the way they were (although Jere’s nerves were from excitement and Finn’s were from pure terror). Finn wonders when the little boy had gotten so big and remembers cuddling him as a newborn, head under chin and being so terrified because the boy had felt so fragile in his hands and he couldn’t imagine being in charge of something so delicate for the rest of his life. Of course, he didn’t feel so fragile anymore but he was still a tiny thing when Finn wrapped him up in his arms and kissed the top of his head. 

When the alarm goes off, Finn holds him a little closer. Even when Rae kisses them both and tells them breakfast is almost ready and Seb starts wailing in the kitchen (he’s good at wailing and Finn’s not sure how a 3 year old could possibly have such a powerful set of lungs), he holds him. And when Jere wiggles and squirms and complains about being hungry and having to put on his uniform, Finn gives him a final squeeze and lets him go before he falls back on the bed and wonders how, if he survives this one, he’ll ever be able to let Seb go to school, too. 

“Are you alright?” Rae asks. He’s splashing cool water on his face after breakfast because taking Jere to school had fallen on him and he was slightly panicked. 

“I’m ok.” 

“Are you having a panic attack?” 

“No,” he dries his face on a towel and swats at her with it. “I’m just… I’m ok. First day jitters, I suppose.” 

“For your classes or for Jere’s?” 

“Both,” he admits honestly. 

“You’ll both be fine.” 

Jere chatters excitedly in the backseat (“Papa Karim said I’ll learn about birds but I already know about birds and I bet we’ll get to paint and-“) and Finn makes happy noises for the boys benefit but inside he’s dying just a little bit and he thinks about kidnapping the kid and keeping him close all day but he doubts he can teach English and keep his child under control at the same time. “Are you really excited, Jere?” 

“I am.” Jere tells him, nodding happily. “But I’m worried about Seb. What if he misses me? Do you think he’ll miss me?”

“I’m sure he will but you’ll see him when we pick him up this afternoon from Gran’s.” 

“But do you think he’ll be alright without me?” 

It was the little things he did, like worrying about his baby brother, that made Finn’s heart swell with pride and love and he knew they were doing a good job in raising him if Jere was worried about these sort of things at such a young age. “He’ll be fine.” 

Jere holds his Dad’s hand with a sense of pride (Finn will miss this in a few years) and when they get to his classroom, Jere seems eager for Finn to be gone (which hurts Finn in ways he doesn’t understand just yet). “You’ll pick me up today?” Jere asks, one foot already in the classroom door. 

“Yes,” Finn grabs his tiny backpack and pulls him back, kneeling so that they are eye level. “You know if you need me for anything, that they can call me, right?” 

“I know. I gotta go.”

He wants to say all sorts of things about not going and not growing up to fast but Jere’s just a little boy so Finn smiles and kisses him on his head (twice) and tells him to have a good day and be a good boy. There are children around them clinging to parents’ legs and wailing about not wanting to go, but Jere smiles brightly at his teacher and lets her take his coat off. 

For a moment, Finn wishes Jere was like the wailing kids because then he’d have an excuse to take him to his Gran’s and he wouldn’t have to worry about anyone corrupting him (except with cookies). But there’s also a sense of pride in having such a well behaved young man for a son and the thought gives Finn enough strength to leave the school and near crawl into his car before he brushes away a few tears than managed to escape. 

“Everything go ok?” Rae asks when he calls her on his lunch break. 

“Yeah. He did great.” 

“I was talking about you.” 

He thinks for a moment and realizes his stomach has settled out and he’s more focused than he was first thing this morning. “Yeah, I’m ok. Just… I think you’ll have to take Seb on his first day. I don’t think I can handle doing it twice.” 

“That’s 2 years away.” 

“Closer than you think.” 

(And Finn does end up taking Seb to school for the first time and the boy cries a little and Finn brushes the tears of his tiny cheeks and tells him it will be alright.)


End file.
